Crossed
by Eclissy
Summary: Our paths had crossed for less than three percent of my life and ever since we parted, I have always been tied. (Dragonfable modern AU. OCAdventurer/Drakath. Warning for language, suggestive language/themes, major character deaths, murder etc).
1. Prologue

**So here's the start of my AU thingy that I came up with one night. A friend of mine asked me if the story had a theme. Well sometimes a story is just a story. At least it starts out that way.**

**Let me clarify a few things first. This may be the worst idea that I have ever had. The worst. Since the summary (which might change. Probably will change) was terribly vague and foreshadowy I guess, let me do a more clearer summary:**

**The main character is that asshole Drakath. Here in the modern AU, he's from a family that descended from a noble/royal bloodline and his father (who's still alive and in power) is the puppet head of a very powerful business that, from the shadows, is controlled by an organization. **

**Prior to the story's events, a massive fire burned through the section of a large city known as Falconreach. The section is named Falconreach I mean. Not the city. (god this sounds really dumb already). The fire nearly destroyed the place. Instead, it left it falling apart and poor. How did this fire start? A crazy arsonist started it and is still on the run. He may have been paid by someone to do it.**

**Also, a serial killer was recently taken down by the joint efforts of the police force and a bounty hunter. Most of the credit was given to Inspector Tomix and the bounty hunter Zhoom. And yeah.**

**Sound weird? Yeah, I know. Turn back now.**

**If you're still interested, read on I guess. It's marked mature and the pairing's at the front so if you like this kind of thing, go ahead. **

**As a side note to some of my regular readers and reviewers, this isn't mid August isn't it. You're right, it isn't. All of you get early stuff because remember the trip I told you about that was going to delay the coming chapters of the other fics? Well, mid way stuff happened that left myself, some family members and a few friends unable to move very far and we're back early. It sucks for me but great for the people who want more stuff fast. This fic won't update regularly till I'm done with the Darkness Orb Saga in DE but here's a taste I suppose. This is basically a filler before I continue with DE and Tiger/Dragon.**

**One last note (sorry for the overly long notes), I really don't like Drakath. I don't. I used to not care for him much but now, I want to kill him. But killing him isn't enough. This story is going to make up for the fact that I have to research the shit out of this jerk because of how important he's becoming to the plot of Double Edged. So yeah. That's it. Here's a crap AU (that I guiltily enjoy writing).**

**Crossed +**

"Welcome home, Drakath sir." The chauffer repeats the same words he had said the year before as the automated iron gates open to the estate. "Your mother will be pleased to see you again."

"Sure sure," I tsk, thinking of how bothersome the greetings will have to be and looking out the shaded window of the car.

Every year this happens. That woman can't go a year without my company and really, I'd rather be at my apartment down town. But no, she insists and cries when I don't come and visit after the semester ends. I wish my father would do something about that but that would involve him talking at length to my mother.

He's lucky mother doesn't like his company very much. God knows how much I'd pay to keep her away for just a bit longer.

"But money isn't much of a problem." I roll down the window of the car and lean out as the chauffer drives down the road through the trees towards the mansion.

The mansion, one of my favourites out of the ones that father owns in this area, stands on an fairly small estate on the coast that had been in my family for only a couple of decades. Surprisingly, it was worth just a little under twelve million.

"Hardly anything." I chuckle and pull out a box of cigarettes from the inside of my lapel as the car drives up to the front of the mansion and stops. I reach into the pocket of my suit jacket for a lighter finding that I had forgotten to bring one. "Lighter." I snap at the chauffer and he scourges around for a lighter in the compartments by the driver's seat. "I'm waiting." I say pointedly as I tap my knee with one of the cigarettes.

"In a moment, sir! I just need to-wait! Here you go, sir." The chauffer turns around and offers me a silver lighter.

I grab the lighter from him and flip it open. I pause for a moment, seeing that the lighter was one of the ones that my father had custom made. I admire the silhouette of a dragon about to strike that was wrapped around the cool metal.

"Sir, if I may," The chauffer coughs as I light the cigarette. "You're mother feels very uncomfortable with smoke and-"

"I didn't give you my go ahead."

"Sir?"

"I didn't say that you may give your opinion. So I'll say it now. Your opinion doesn't matter." I scoff before taking a drag from the cigarette.

"But your mother will worry as well. Sir, I-"

"I know and I honestly don't fucking care. My mother's a dolt and whines too much," I glare at the small small man sitting in the driver's seat. "By the way, how were you going to finish that sentence? Was it something like 'Sir, I think?' There's no need for someone like you to think. Thinking for your kind causes problems and wastes time. For you more than me on the former."

"…Yes, sir." The chauffer turns forward again, voice quieter.

"Remember where you stand in this world. Now get out. I'd like to have a few more moments in my own good company before I have to go see the harpy."

He leaves the car without another word, thank god, and I'm left to a few more minutes to myself. I watch him as he walks towards the front double doors to my home and needed only to rap on it once before a maid opened them. She looks over the chauffer's shoulder and sees the car. The two of them scamper into the mansion and I see a glint of fear in their eyes when they saw I was watching.

"Stupid peasants." I sigh, blowing smoke out the open window as bright sunlight leaks through.

It was good to see their fear and obedience though. Someone, such as myself, who is born on a metaphorical throne shouldn't have to deal with the idiocy of the common. They should know their place under my foot. Such is the natural way of the world.

Fate favoured me. I was born into fortune, opportunity, success and the promise of a future.

"Maybe I should get rid of him," I think out loud and stare out towards the sea behind the mansion. "It'll be annoying to hear him try to speak up again."

I take the cigarette from my mouth, holding it with my index and middle finger, and tap the tip on the outside of the car's door to get rid of the ash before it dirtied the car. I don't really have to, someone will clean it up if they don't want me angered.

*BAM*

Something hits the roof of the car and I cry out, startled.

"What the hell?" I lean out the window to check the top of the car and find someone standing on top.

A person was crouching on the roof of my car like they had just leapt down from somewhere even though there was nothing around to jump down from. Unless…they jumped out a window form the mansion?

It was someone much shorter than me, wearing dirty old jean shorts and a faded red hoodie. The person turns around and looks down at me.

It was some bratty little girl. Black hair, blue eyes and all in all, plain and poor. She was holding a small leafy potted plant in her hands.

"Scuse me," She says, hopping off the car and lands beside my window.

"How did you get here?" I ask, stuttering and still in shock.

"Hmmmm," She leans closer to the window, inspecting me like someone would inspect an interesting animal behind a glass wall. I scoot backwards as far as I could in the car seats, not wanting to be anywhere near a dirty peasant.

Before I could get out of her reach, she grabs my wrist and pulls me closer to the door.

"Get your disgusting hand off of me!" I try shaking her off but her grip was strong; it was way too strong for someone of her size.

"I just want to borrow this." She lets my hand go but catches the still burning cigarette that slipped from my fingers. Without thinking too much on it, she raises the cigarette to her lips and takes a drag as I held my wrist.

"For a call boy, you look pretty average. I'd think the lady of the house would have higher taste but whatever." She comments off handedly, not even bothering to look at me. I feel blood rush to my face from embarrassment and rage. I was going to jump out of the car and strangle her myself but she had already reached into the car and pushed the soiled cigarette back into my hand.

"Well, I'll be off then. I didn't make a dent or scratch in your fancy car it that's why you look like you're going to explode. So relax, guy. I'll be seeing you later. Or not. If I were her, I'd only try you out once just." She winks and dashes away.

"Wha-wha…" I couldn't really process what had just come out of her mouth. By the time I got out of the car with my cellphone ready to call security, as in five seconds after she ran, she was already gone.

The words angry and furious wouldn't do justice in describing how I was feeling. "Murderous" would be somewhat better.

How dare she pay me such disrespect.

No matter what it takes, I'm going to track her down and ruin her.

This won't be that last time we meet. The last time we meet, it'll end with you dead.

**There. Prologue's done. Rereading this thing is painful.**

**This was posted on my tumblr first btw. It was for my beta's who lived far away. They suggested the AU and got their way. Oh how they will rue this day.**

**This AU is going to have a lot of headcannons, especially ones about Drakath's parents. **

**My beta's have the whole outline of the story and they've all told me to go tie myself to a rock and jump off a cliff for what I am going to write. They said they meant it in the best possible way (what?).**

**Anyways, if you want to review this really short prologue or give your first thoughts, go for it. Now let me down some pain killers. Oh boy. At least I'm not like my artist friend that isn't Electronelle. (He can move his legs but he can't art well. That poor boy).**


	2. Chapter 1

**This'll be a short chapter. Most of the chapters are going to be short. Wait a second, I think I'm getting ahead of myself. First off, I have mostly recovered from the adventure I had on my trip which was outlined more on a recent chapter of Double Edged. It was chapter 28 I think. Anyways (I use that word too much) I will do my usual reviewer replies. *Straightens Glasses* **

**The World's Nicest Writer: I do want to put out this story, it's just that I am also extremely nervous about it. Also I looked back and wow, I should never write author notes on pain killers. So to clear things up, I'm not totally hating on this story (well, maybe the first little bit), I'm just majorly embarrassed about the premise. Ah, the pain of embarrassment stings my heart and spine. Embarrassment for me hits me right in the spine and I start convulsing. What an ugly picture. Sorry about that.**

**Kaiban: Gosh, you're such a sweetie. And I sound like an old lady saying that. I might as well give you some lemon candy along with it. So as I have said before, I'm not totally hateful of it, I'm just mortified about writing it. It's just wow, I really am obsessed with Dragonfable. And what's worse, I'm putting my OC as one of the people in the center of all the attention. When people read AUs, I think they'd want to just see their favourite characters and not some crummy OCs. I'm one of those people actually. And for sure the prologue isn't as good as my other works. Beginning a story has always been a problem for me. I'll work on fixing that. Anyways (again with that word) your reviews make me really happy and I'll stop now and get to the story.**

**As an overall note, I'd like to explain the format of this story. There will be three characters that this story is centered around. Readers will see the story from their point of view three chapters at a time. Drakath gets the prologue because he's a selfish bastard and because his character has the most to do with the central plot. He'll get three chapters, then Tomix will take over and after that Robina/Victoria. I hope that's a varied enough cast of characters. I'll discuss more on characters as they appear. This is all their show. Ty and co are just there for...you'll see eventually.**

**The summary needs to change. I'll do that when I can think of a better one.**

"Eek!" A maid shrieks as I slam the doors open. "W-welcome home, sir! How was your school year?"

"Shut up." I growl at her, redialing security on my cell phone after fumbling the number before.

"Is something the matter, sir?" The maid asks nervously, trailing after me as I walk towards the grand staircase in the main foyer.

"Didn't I tell you to shut your mouth?" I glare back at her and she somehow gets paler and shakier.

"Forgive me please!" She rushes off in the direction of the living room, almost tripping over herself.

"Why is everyone useless today?" I start tapping my foot impatiently on the tiled shiny marble floor. No one was picking up.

"Damn it!" I throw the cellphone across the foyer and it smashes into pieces on the wall. "Mother! Where are you? Mother!"

"Sir? What's wrong?" The chauffer cautiously peeks out from the door to the kitchen.

"There was a thief in here. Did you know that?" I walk over to him until I was staring the old short man down. "A thief. Right here." I point to the ground and he gulps. "Mind telling how that happened?" I grab the short man's collar and slam him against the nearest wall. "Where the hell is my security?"

"Pu-please calm down, sir," The chauffer begs, raising his hands up defensively in front of his face. "You're angry!"

"Do you know what you are? Fired!" I throw him to the ground and the old man lands on his back.

"But sir-" He tries sitting up but falls back when his back gives out.

"Where in the fuck is my mother?" I shout louder and knock the nearest vase on the ground. It shatters by the soon to be homeless bum on the ground.

Another maid ran out of the kitchen to help the stupid old man up. I would've fired her too but I was already storming down the nearest hallway, flinging expensive pottery on the floor and ripping paintings from their walls.

"W-wait! Sir!" One of the butlers runs down the hall after me with two others. One was holding a broom and the other was holding a phone. "I will call your mother! There is also a phone call for yo-"

"Darling?" One of the doors down the hall opens. "Is that you?" A wavy brown haired woman with pale skin and brown eyes peeks out from the door.

My mother.

"You're home!" She exclaims, rushing out of the room towards me. A small ratty dog chases after, yipping, snarling and biting at the air. "How was your second year of university? Did you have a good time? I was so worried; you never called back," She comes up to me and holds her arms out, ready to embrace me. "With how the news is going nowadays, I was afraid-"

I shove her arms away and walk past her. She makes a small frightened squeak but still follows after me.

"There was thief here," I state crossly, readjusting my tie. "Can someone explain to me how she got in?"

"Oh my god, a thief?" Mother gasps, chasing after me as I continue to storm down the hall. "Did you run into them? Oh dear, are you hurt?" A hand reaches out to hold my arm but I turn and slap it away.

"After months of sleepless nights and endless work, I have to come home to this?" I scowl at her and she shrinks back, looking down at the red carpeted ground. "I could've gotten mugged! And in my own home no less! I couldn't even call security!"

"They didn't answer you?" My mother took out her own cell phone from her pocket and called security. She listens for a few moments before she makes a dumb look of confusion. "Th-that's strange. No one's picking up…"

"Useless, all of you!" I throw my arms up in exasperation. My blood was boiling and practically cooking my veins.

"Did you get a good look at the thief? Perhaps we could give the police a description of the thief and let them handle it," Mother suggests, hopeful and eager to please. "How does that sound?"

"Are you kidding me," I sigh and rub my temples. "Is it possible that you got even dumber since I left?"

"What?" She stares back at me, oblivious. My hands were twitching and I wanted dearly to smack that stupid look off of her but the servants were watching.

"Let me spell it out slowly for you. We. Cannot. Call. The. Police," I glare at the butlers that had followed us down the hall. "You should know why."

"Oh…right. I'm sorry. I forgot…but you saw the thief. What did the thief look like? What did they take."

"It was some bratty little girl. By the looks of it, she was thin and poor." the image of the girl appears in my mind, looking down at me with a smug smirk and her insult loops in my mind. My hands clench into fists and I slam one into the wall. My mother jumps back from surprise and so do the other butlers. One of them almost drops the phone.

"I'll track that little bitch down and no one will find the body."

"Dear…what did she take?" Mother tries to approach me again. The yappy dog was still running in circles around her legs and I was tempted to punt it across the hall but I'd probably get my shoes dirty.

"Some potted plant. Maybe she stuffed some money or gems in her pocket but I didn't see."

"Oh, is that it?" Mother lets her shoulders relax and smiles. "That's hardly anything. There's no need to be so upset over that."

"That isn't the point!" I slam my fist into the wall again and mother flinches at the sound it makes.

"Do you know what it says about us?" I shout at her and she squeezes her eyes shut as I did. "A thief, with nothing, no tools at all, broke into our mansion filled with cameras and guards and no one saw but me." I point to myself, clenching my teeth. "I could've gotten maimed or worse! Could you imagine if someone were to catch wind of this, and they certainly will if we let that brat get away. They'll take advantage of our incompetent staff and we'll be robbed blind!"

"I guess that's right…" My mother murmurs softly, averting her gaze from mine.

"I want the entire staff sacked immediately." I say, crossing my arms.

"What? We can't do that?" My mother starts shaking and so do the butlers.

"They clearly can't do their job right. I was almost killed their and no one was around to help. I expect them to all be gone by tomorrow."

"But dear, please-"

"They should all be replaced immediately and I want that thief tracked down. I want to deal with getting rid of her as soon as possible."

"Umm, sir," The butler with the phone coughs, forehead shining with sweat. "There is-"

"That can wait. Can't you see I'm not done talking?" I hiss at him.

"But sir-"

"Drakath, dear. Maybe it's important." Mother says, weakly raising a finger.

"More important than my safety? I think not."

"But please-" Mother starts shaking again.

"It's your father!" The butler spits out, shoving the phone towards me.

I stop breathing and suddenly it was awfully cold in the hallway. Mother covers her mouth with her hands and even the dog stops it's barking and hides behind my mother, shivering and most likely pissing itself.

"…Is he on the line right now? Can he hear us?" I whisper, gingerly taking the phone from the butler.

"Yes and I'm not quite sure." The butler swallows hard and backs up a few steps to give us more space.

Slowly, I raise the phone to my ear and rehearse how I was going to greet my father in my head. Taking a silent breath in, I speak into the phone.

"Good morning, father. I trust that you are having a pleasurable day so far." Shit, that was really bad. I was starting to sweat from how anxious I was.

"Hardly," A rough voice answers back. It was so quiet in the hall now that mother and the butlers were able to hear him speak. The butlers shudder but daren't move and mother looks sadly down at the dog.

I was right. It pissed itself on the carpet again.

"What is this I hear about a break in? A thief managed to get through security and into my home?"

"Yes. It was some dirty brat that snuck in. She didn't take anything worth much value but we can't be too sure." I answer, making sure my reply wasn't shaky.

"See that you deal with this quickly. I'll be away for some time. The…SS wish to speak with me about our future plans out of country. This might take some time. I imagine I won't come back for the next few months. I expect that you will make sure that I won't have to deal with any trouble when I get back."

"Of course, of course. I'll take care of everything." I start nodding, even though he wasn't there to see.

"Good." The phone clicks and the line goes silent. I stand there for a while, motionless as I hold the phone.

What was I expecting? Him asking how school was? Asking about my health? What an absurd thought.

"Shall I take the phone back?" One of the butlers offers, cautious of my temperament.

"Fine." I toss the phone at him and he catches it and holds it to his chest as I push past him, not bothering to spare a glance for my mother.

**End of the first chapter and now some chapter end notes.**

**Originally, Drakath was going to be the only protagonist but then I expanded it to the other two. Before, I had just wanted to practice with writing his character since the jerk has somehow become such a big irritation on Double Edged. Then I decided that just reading from this guy's perspective would be too annoying/boring and I had other ideas that I wanted to put it. They wouldn't have been possible if Drakath was the only person talking.**

**I was also hesitant to start this story at first because of the other characters present here that must have existed in the canon but have no appeared. Drakath's mother is one of them. All of this is purely headcanons and if the canon storyline suddenly brings her up and she's a space cowboy with crab legs for hands, I'll just go ahead and say now that this is an alternate universe where things aren't what they are in reality/canon. Yes. That's what I'll do. AUs have great fallback plans for not being discredited by the canon.**

**I'm not sure if I'm getting Drakath's character right, still. It drives me crazy.**

**The whole history of modern day Lore'll be elaborated on eventually. Don't expect a full exposition so early. I have ten pages worth of notes on modern day Lore and I'm sure no one wants to read all of that.**

**Unlike my other works, many chapters have already been finished in advance. I'll post them periodically if I can.**

**In short, I have plans and I hope they'll be interesting. (please don't hate me)**

**See you next chapter (or not if you think this is ridiculous) **


	3. Chapter 2

**Hello again. That last chapter was pretty short so I'll put another one up. I was worried a bit since some details may have been spoilers for DE and Tiger/Dragon. But hey, I'm hoping that people who liked DE and Tiger/Dragon and maybe even Drowning make up most of the readers for this story. So here it is but only after some Reviewer Reviews.**

**Kaiban: Wow, diva-ish is the perfect word for Drakath's behavior. I'd think that was what he'd be like if he still had something to his name in-game. Yeah, he's a mega jerk too but that's Drakath. I wouldn't say that you shouldn't feel bad for him but he doesn't deserve any pity where this story is going. I'm also very glad that you like the ship. It's quite unusual for fans to like canon-character/OC ships but I feel very flattered that you like my writing of it. The ship will be one of the main focuses of the story along with other very uh I did say that there was going to be murder and character deaths. I'm very excited for that.**

**So this chapter is once again centered around Drakath. The next one will feature him and then the one after that will be about Tomix and his modern AU life.**

**School is starting for me so the updates will come very slow for this one and my other stories. I am very sorry about that and hopefully you'll still stick around. Now that I think about it, my summer was hardly productive. I need to get my act together. **

"What's going on?" I stare in astonishment at the guards littering the floor of the security room in one of the lower floors of the mansion.

All of them, all twenty five of them, were out cold on the ground. I was surprised at how someone could stuff all of them in such a small room. By the looks of the television screens hanging on the walls and the machines that were still whirring and running, nothing had been damaged and no one had sounded the alarm.

The guards, each one of them having a body sculpted like tank, had been knocked out before they could do anything. I could even see that some of them had dark bruises right on their foreheads and faces. Did that brat do this? That would mean she took them head on. How was it possible?

"Dear?" My mother, who had been following me in silence with the other butlers, peeks over my shoulder to peer at the scene in the room. "What in the world? Did the thief do all of this?"

"Who else could it be?" I kick one of the fallen guards in his gut. He doesn't stir.

"I-I don't understand," Mother squeaks out quietly. "Did she do all of this just for a plant?"

Ignoring my mother, I kick the guard harder out of frustration. This was impossible! How in the world could a scrawny little brat knock out some of the most highly trained professionals in the world? "Evidently, that was a sham," I mutter, kicking the guard again. "Wake up. Wake up!" I demand the prone guard.

"Dear, not so hard. You might hurt him…" Mother taps me on the shoulder.

"That's the point!" I snap at her and aim for the guards head this time. My foot collides with his noggin and his head rolls to the side. All he did was snort.

"Fine, be that way." I huff, looking around the room. A stack of sticky notes was left on the desk by the door. It was better than nothing.

…

"They better be here by the evening! If they aren't, kiss your company goodbye. I'll run you into the ground so fast, your disgusting spawn'll starve before they can even make it to the sweat shops!" I yell into the phone.

"What the-? But please!" I slam the phone back down on the receiver before he could finish.

My mother and I were sitting on both ends of the plush couch in the living room. The tv, which took up a large chunk of the wall, was showing the news. My mother had been watching the news quietly as I demanded that our security guards be replaced and the incompetent slackers be sacked.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" My mother asks tentatively when I cross my arms and sink down into the couch. One of the maids that I didn't fire had just finished cleaning up the broken shards of glass from the window I had broken while I was talking on the phone. She near sprints out of the room. "She only took a plant. It wasn't much."

"And what if she went straight to our vaults?" I retort. "I expect that a monster that could take out an entire team of guards could rip the doors right off of our safes or snap your idiotic neck in half."

At that, mother bites down on her lip and looks back at the tv.

"…and we have just received an update on the most recently found body parts in the Falconreach community east of the city," The anchorman on the tv announces. "The police have confirmed that they belong to one of Josephine La Porte's victims judging from the trace amounts of her DNA at the scene."

"Are they still talking about that?" I sigh, leaning on the arm of couch, fury fading into dull irritation. "She's been on the news for years."

"And now here's Jacob with Captain Rolith of the police force."

The tv changes from the news room to a dirty alley between two run down grey buildings in Falconreach. The area was sealed off by police tape and the captain and the reporter were standing in front. Other officers and investigators were studying the scene.

"Can you share any more details of the investigation, Captain?"

The blond officer coughs, clearing his throat, before he answers.

"What was found was an arm and part of a liver. They were hidden well; had they not been discovered, the building would have been demolished today as planned." Rolith motions to the building on the right. The camera pans up the old building with broken windows and cracked concrete. Black singe marks and graffiti marred the walls. For a split second, a flash of red darts by one of the broken windows and I jolt up in my seat.

"Was that…" I squint at the screen but whatever it was already disappeared.

"It was one of the buildings that should have been taken down sooner. The foundations were extremely damaged by the mass arson attack two years ago," the captain shakes his head. "The arm and the liver came from two different people. That has raised Josephine La Porte's number of victims to thirty seven." Rolith grimaces and his eyes dart to the entrance of the crime scene.

"Have they been identified?" The reporter asks.

"We are checking through the missing persons list but at this moment, we haven't had any more clues as of this time. As this was all discovered just recently, we haven't had much time to investigate. The fact that this building is also extremely dangerous hasn't been much of a help either." Rolith continues.

"Who found the bodies? What was left of them, I mean."

"That's a really morbid way to put it…but I guess this is a morbid affair. Not that Falconreach hasn't seen its share of affairs."

"Is it alright for the captain to be so laid back about all of this?" Mother forces a laugh, trying to start a conversation.

"Quiet!" I shush her, straining to get a good look at the building. "Move the camera, damn it." I grip my knees.

"As for who found the evidence and reported it to us this morning, we aren't at liberty to reveal that information," Rolith continues, looking into the camera. "I will say, though, that this is the eighth time that we have discovered Josephine La Port's work in Falconreach. For those of you who live in Falconreach and have found anything that may be related to Josephine's murders, please report it and do not tamper with anything. Please."

"Thank you, Captain Rolith," Jacob says. "Just one more question, if you please."

"Yes?"

"Will Mr. Tomix and the bounty hunter, Zhoom, be contacted?"

"Ah…Eventually, I suppose," Rolith adjusts his collar. "That'll be all."

"Good luck on your investigation, Captain."

The camera shifts right for a moment and the red hood appears again, walking next to some kid on a bike into an apartment building across the street. Then they were back in the news room and I threw one of the pillows on the couch at the tv screen.

"Found you!"

"What's wrong?" Mother turns and asks in concern.

Just then, one of the guards bursts into the room and pants "Ma'am, are you alright? Where's your son?"

"Oh no no no no!" Mother rushes out of the couch and to the dazed guard. "Let's step outside." She tells the guard gently, glancing back to meet my glare briefly.

They both leave the living room and the guard finally notices the sticky not stuck over his left eye. "You're fired" was written in neat cursive on the yellow note and the guard peels it off of his eyelid just as mother pushes him out.

Now that the guards were awake, I should have gone to properly fire them but my mind was elsewhere.

That thief was all the out in Falconreach. It had only been a few hours since we met and she was already over there.

"Figures that she would live in a place like Falconreach." I smirk, cracking my knuckles.

"And as Captain Rolith said, this has been the eighth time one of Josephine La Porte's victims have been found," the anchorman restates. "Josephine La Porte's original victim count numbered twenty but even after her death-" A picture of La Porte appears on the screen.

She was revolting to look at. Her skin was pale and splotchy, hair was a dirty blond and worst of all was her mouth. She had two harelips. One on the middle of the top lip and one on the corner of the bottom. Though her mouth was closed, the gaps in her lip displayed crooked jagged and stained teeth. Her blue eyes were hard and that intense stare she had make me uneasy.

"-her shadow still haunts the city. Since her demise about eleven months ago, more evidence of her gruesome work and her victims, or parts of them, have been appearing all over the country but most of them are here. More specifically in Falconreach."

"Falconreach is one of the more dangerous if not the most dangerous areas in the country. It isn't a surprise that they'd be found there," The anchorwoman sitting next to him says, readjusting the microphone on her collar. "Even before the massive fire that ravaged the town, Falconreach wasn't the safest place to be at night or even during the day. It's a place known for riots, vandalism and overall chaos. Especially on the Fridays."

"You can blame some of that on Mayor Rayff. Rumors say that the mayor used bribery to win his seat but it's a fact that he doesn't know how to handle money or the citizen's welfare. To discuss this, our guest Aaron Tax-"

I grab the remote and turn the tv off.

What day is it today? Sunday. It's still a ways off until Friday.

Fate and karma favored me again.

"Now that I know where you live, maybe I'll settle it with a visit now. It won't be as dramatic as when father got that crazy freak to burn down your town but it'll be good enough for you." I smile and rub my hands together, excited at the prospect of seeing that smug bitch on her knees and begging.

"Dear?" Mother comes back into the room, looking more tired than usual. "Do you not want to watch television anymore?"

"Call for two of the guards," I stand, smoothing out my shirt and coat. "I need to pay someone a special visit."

"Dear…you fired all of them."

"…Fuck."

**A bunch of exposition here. Not a lot of action but as you can see Falconreach isn't the best place to live.**

**Considering that this AU has no magic, the people living there can't make a living off of slaying monsters, coups are harder because of laws, the Slugwraths are still in power and though Alteon is working on it, regicide doesn't exactly come without consequences. Life basically sucks there. **

**And then there's the whole serial killer thing and if you've read far into DE and Tiger/Dragon, you'll know that this will become a major conflict.**

**So more will come, I have stuff saved up but I'll stagger releases. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
